xotGD
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Having to get out of bed in the small hours to make it to the airport for an 06:30 flight does not have the makings of a great day out in my book.
But good that you enjoyed it.
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“Extreme day trippers” on the rise
- Thread starter Peter Wilde
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But good that you enjoyed it.
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185143
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I only got off the train at 05:10, so I did cut it pretty fine. But for the price I'd paid, a taxi to the airport would have cost far more than I'd have lost if I'd missed the flight.
I do agree though! Was a very long day. I'm going again on Monday, but on the 08:40 flight this time, and back on the ferry. That's more like it.
FinsburyPark
Member
I think the general consensus is that some trips in the UK could be classed as EDTs.
Some of the ones I know that many in the EDT community would class as it is Mainland GB to Belfast (or other way)
Or London (or south of England in general) to Scotland.
While I don't speak for the whole community I see a pattern where a trip where the most efficient way to do it is by plane (or possibly by ferry) will most likely be considered by many to count.
Examples
Brighton to Bournemouth (typically no)
London to Edinburgh (typically yes, even if you went by car, train or national express coach).
Of course the whole thing is subjective as can be.
Some of the ones I know that many in the EDT community would class as it is Mainland GB to Belfast (or other way)
Or London (or south of England in general) to Scotland.
While I don't speak for the whole community I see a pattern where a trip where the most efficient way to do it is by plane (or possibly by ferry) will most likely be considered by many to count.
Examples
Brighton to Bournemouth (typically no)
London to Edinburgh (typically yes, even if you went by car, train or national express coach).
Of course the whole thing is subjective as can be.
GRALISTAIR
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Exactly my thoughts. 08.30 is my personal sweet spot for a departing flight (especially from MAN!)
1D54
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On an extreme day trip though the earlier the better as that extra couple of hours at the destination can mean such an awful lot.
Howardh
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£69 spent right now would mean I could spend a day - tomorrow - in Palma/Mallorca (0720 > 0145 back in MCR with Jet2) from Manchester Airport. In my younger days I would absolutely consider that providing I could get to and from the airport at those times! Nowadays, even though I'd love to do that, the times would shatter me and I'd need more than a nap when I got there! And, of course, the EES queues have to be factored in these days.
Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I've done Bolton tot he Isle of Wight and back in a day, flying to Southampton, also done Bolton to Seaford near Brighton and back in a day by train (and a very enjoyable trip that was too - to meet my parent's in their caravan there!!)
Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I've done Bolton tot he Isle of Wight and back in a day, flying to Southampton, also done Bolton to Seaford near Brighton and back in a day by train (and a very enjoyable trip that was too - to meet my parent's in their caravan there!!)
GRALISTAIR
Established Member
Oh believe me I totally understand. But definitely exhausting.
1D54
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Reminds me of thst Australian Customs show where a non English speaking French lad turned up at Sydney from Paris just to do a few hours shopping. He lost a lot of his precious time as the officers couldn't anyone would do such a crazy thing but he was legit and got his booked flight back home with a load of t shirts etc.
EYFanatic
Member
I did Edinburgh-Frankfurt-Palma-Frankfurt-Edinburgh with Lufthansa a few years ago when, for some reason, they decided to fly the 747-400 on the FRA-PMI sectors for a month... From push back at EDI to door open at EDI was 21 hours 6 minutes at a cost of £1.50... Should have been £150 but the fare was entered in error and I jumped at it... Due to the runway of choice, we had a climb out over Hockenheim circuit and then on approach to Palma, we had the wheels on the tarmac before spooling up again and doing a go around
It sort of does for official purposes - Kings Messengers... They can be identified by the wearing of the official tie depicting silver greyhounds on a blue background...
FinsburyPark
Member
Through my time in EDT online groups I have come across the 2 most extreme EDTs I have ever heard of.
Usually the "extreme" part of an EDT is said to come from the low cost of the flights etc
But I'd say these are extreme in another way.
Ive heard of someone who has done Manchester to Istanbul and one of the London area airports to New York.
I doubt either were cheap in the flight prices department but extreme in pushing the furthest limits of what you could actually do for a day trip.
One night stays are often considered to count.
Usually the "extreme" part of an EDT is said to come from the low cost of the flights etc
But I'd say these are extreme in another way.
Ive heard of someone who has done Manchester to Istanbul and one of the London area airports to New York.
I doubt either were cheap in the flight prices department but extreme in pushing the furthest limits of what you could actually do for a day trip.
One night stays are often considered to count.
You must have missed the first page of this thread where someone mentioned a (futile) day trip from the UK to Los Angeles for work, as well as Concorde to New York and back, which I believe was quite common back in the day when financial and legal firms needed wet ink signatures on contracts or other urgent physical documents transferred internally.
You must also have missed my post about my "day trip" to New Zealand, well technically more than a day as I spent around 28 hours there but only slept upright on a chair in the airport twice (arrived 1am, waited until public transport started at 6am, then returned on the last bus around midnight and departed 6am). As I stopped over in several other places for less than a day each, I was away from the UK for over a week on that trip.
That post attracted a reply about someone who went to NZ for a job interview and came straight back, with no luggage at all, which I think is the winner.
Istanbul is probably the sweet spot of returning within 24 hours while having a meaningful time at the destination, because of the existence of an "overnight" flight (in the case of MAN, it is currently TK1916 departing 11pm arriving 5am so you get about 12 hours there before having to return on TK1915 at 7pm arriving 10pm). Cyprus also looks possible, and I guess Tel Aviv if you are so inclined, but the Israeli security services would not like that.
Even without Concorde, North America is not difficult at all because of how the flight schedules work from Europe. You can easily return to the UK within 24 hours of your departure, although to maximise your time at there it would be better to make it into a 1½ day trip. The same applies to much of the Middle East, with so many flights at all hours of the day to Dubai and Doha.
Train is easy, coach you would probably go overnight both ways (I did once) so stretching the definition of a day trip. Car I would say no unless "you" are not the driver or there are 3+ rotating drivers.
My cousin claims that in the 1980s he drove from Toronto to Memphis without stopping except at traffic lights and at the border - apparently he didn't need to get out of the car once.
Well if that counts then the number of "day trips" I've done more than triples. Starting from London - by car to Aberdeen and Glasgow multiple times, by plane and train to most EU countries, and to Asia and Australia several times (actually my NZ trip was a tag on to an Australia trip when I realised it would cost a negligible amount of extra points to redeem).
gabrielhj07
Established Member
Pre-2020, 747 bashers could do JFK in a day easily. Out on something like the BA117, back on any of the red-eyes.
I think that was me, or rather, someone I know of. Returning to the UK on NZ1, approaching Border Force without any hand luggage (let alone checked bags), invited a trip to ‘secondary’ and some rubber gloves.
Re Edinburgh, since the December 2025 timetsble, it’s possible to do teo return trips London <> Edinburgh in a day. And if you start in Edinburgh onthe 0537, you’ll do it all before midnight, and if you make the connections and 1S31 is on time to WTT then you’ll average 87.37mph start to finish.
At age 12 I went from Victoria to Brighton and back five times in a day (I had to be home by 2130) - does that count?
At age 12 I went from Victoria to Brighton and back five times in a day (I had to be home by 2130) - does that count?
Only if you had a pint at the end of each journey, and a chaser in the buffet bar en route.
I do recall treating myself to soup of the day on the Belle, and of course nothing on the 4-LAVs, so that would be a fail!
meld3
Member
I drove John O'Groats to Lands End in a single daylight (sunrise-sunset), in a small battery EV, just to prove it was possible. With the pre-start and post-finish drives, it made a 1900 mile 48 hr trip, which I would call 'extreme'....
I used to regularly do day trips to Stockholm for work meetings. They were a killer, up before 4am, early flight, meetings all day, dinner with customer, late flight back and home well after midnight. Can't imagine doing it for "fun".
A colleague once flew to New York, found out when the plane landed that the meeting had been cancelled so went straight to the check-in desk to change his ticket and caught the same plane back.
A colleague once flew to New York, found out when the plane landed that the meeting had been cancelled so went straight to the check-in desk to change his ticket and caught the same plane back.
Wow, 840miles, plus charging, in 17h30. With a big trade off between speed and miles/kWh. That is some drive!
(were you following a van the whole way to get a slipstream?
)meld3
Member
Wow, 840miles, plus charging, in 17h30. With a big trade off between speed and miles/kWh. That is some drive!
(were you following a van the whole way to get a slipstream?
865 miles in 16hrs (4:15am - 8:15pm) with 4x 30 min stops to recharge/rest (Perth, Tebay, Wolverhampton, Exeter) and a diversion via M61 and Wigan due to a crash. Also stuck to 70mph or a 5th recharge was needed. You’re right about getting the balance between energy used and the time deadline though (used 196.6 kWh or 4.4 m/kwh). Now pondering beating that time but 3 stops would be too brutal on the driver……
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Out of curiosity, how much range did the 30 minute stops add on?
meld3
Member
c.200 miles. Tried to keep each charge 10-85% for fastest charging speed. The first leg to Perth was longest at 230 miles and battery went 100% > 8% in 4hrs, the rest were 170-200 mile legs. Battery was only 57kwh usable size, not a biggy, and a bigger one would have made no difference as I needed 4x 30 mins !
I'm genuinely mystified by what the appeal of this is. I've just done a search from London to Vancouver for a random date next April, the earliest you can arrive in Vancouver is 11.00 am with the latest departure being 19.35, so in exchange for your £3,700 you might get to spend 6 hours (with minimal estimates for getting to/from and through the airport) in the city? I realise there may well have been later flights back then, but even so, you might get 11 hours in the city, with a transatlantic flight either side. It's one thing if there's some urgent work need, but it sounds like the opposite of fun.
And I'm baffled at how it can include an overnight stay. That's not a day trip!
ABB125
Established Member
I've got two upcoming day (well, technically slightly more than a day) trips to Ireland this month, from Birmingham, both on Sundays.
First trip I haven't yet decided how I'm getting there, might be an overnight ferry or early morning flight to Dublin. Unfortunately the Liverpool Belfast ferry is just slightly too early to fit comfortably into the schedule. Return is late night flight from Shannon (Ryanair).
The following weekend, I have an early flight to Dublin (Ryanair), return is an Aer Lingus ATR72 on the same route the following morning (then straight to the office for work!).
In both cases, I'm travelling simply to use up some "spare" days on an Interrail pass that I otherwise wouldn't be able to use. So completely pointless trips, but oh well that's a shame...
First trip I haven't yet decided how I'm getting there, might be an overnight ferry or early morning flight to Dublin. Unfortunately the Liverpool Belfast ferry is just slightly too early to fit comfortably into the schedule. Return is late night flight from Shannon (Ryanair).
The following weekend, I have an early flight to Dublin (Ryanair), return is an Aer Lingus ATR72 on the same route the following morning (then straight to the office for work!).
In both cases, I'm travelling simply to use up some "spare" days on an Interrail pass that I otherwise wouldn't be able to use. So completely pointless trips, but oh well that's a shame...
FinsburyPark
Member
While it's subjective, in the eyes of many of the online EDT crowd so long as the whole thing is either less than 24 hours total, or at the least not too far over (2-3 hours to adjust for flight delays and or other delays) it counts.
This exemption is mostly accepted in the community because for some destinations, you cannot fly out and fly back in the same day. So an overnight is inevitable.
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Jan 5th 1980, I did a day trip by rail from Broadstairs to Carlisle, 740 miles return, to watch the mighty Bradford City in the FA Cup 3rd round. We lost 3-2 to a late goal, so a VERY long trip home given that the last 70 miles from Victoria took nearly 2 hours - no such thing as HS1 in them days ! I credit myself with a bit more sanity of late. Abiding memory was seeing the Bradford supporters' special train running into Carlisle alongside my own ex-Euston service, having come up the Settle/Carlisle line.
marshlinker
Member
About the same era I was doing Fratton to Carlisle on a through Pompey Away Special.These ran to most away games utilising the scruffiest Cardiff to Pompey Mk 1 sets. Generally you only had lights in the train above 25 mph. Double Headed Class 33s from Pompey to Bescot yard then class 86 through to Carlilse the ride at speed on the WCML was very lively indeed. I remember the Carlisle Rail Staff being very enthusiastic about the arrangements, taking pictures of us and the coaches and handing out cards for suitable pubs enroute to the ground.
My longest edt in the UK though is Portsmouth to Benbecula via Southampton & Glasgow Airports. On arrival the trial i was there to witness had been cancelled because of weather and could not be re-arranged for another month. I returned the same afternoon via Stornaway & Glasgow to Gatwick arriving back in Pompey about 1 am.